Perhaps it's poetic justice or karma, but it looks like one of the "benefits" of living in a country that continually elects people who choose to waste taxpayer money by meddling in the affairs of sovereign nations and fighting wars to protect the interests of corporations and billionaires is that there are an abundance of shiny new surplus weapons of war floating around, looking for a home. Ever since the 1990s and legislation that allowed the Department Of Defense to distribute military equipment to local police forces to fight "the war on drugs", local police forces have become the proud adopted parents of various tools of war. The process escalated after 9/11 as police forces geared up, with the help of the Department Of Homeland Security to ostensibly fight a domestic war against terrorists. While fighting a war on drugs and keeping us safe from terrorists might have been the stated goals of our electeds, read on for the one event that illustrated the underlying purpose of helping local police forces militarize. The 1999 Seattle WTO protests were comprised of labor unions and international organizations that were opposed to the excesses of globalization and free trade. What started out as a nonviolent protest turned violent when a group of militants smashed store windows. That was met by police dressed in the now familiar Robocop protective gear spraying tear gas and firing rubber bullets at the crowd. You can read the story by clicking on the link to a Wikipedia article that I provided above. The point is that the confrontation set the tone for the way that police departments would handle future protests, including Occupy Wall St where nationally, the police used lots of military hardware and took a pro-active approach that I would call outright aggressive, violently attacking lines of protesters and teargasing indiscriminately.Flashing forward to the protests in Ferguson, Mo. where the protests were met with the same approach makes me wonder if the right of assembly is irrelevant when the government doesn't agree with your protest. No one ever interfered with a Teabagger demonstration no matter how out of hand it got. One also has to wonder if our corporate owned electeds had "We, the people" in mind as a dangerous enemy when they voted in the 1033 Program? Ordinary citizens exercising their Constitutional rights would pose a clear and present danger to the corrupt if a nation were no longer a democracy!

When Jimmy McMillan, New York's perennial candidate ran for office on “The Cost Of Rent Is Too Damn High” platform and party, he had valid point. The cost of rent is “too damn high.” As a matter of fact, the cost of virtually all of life's necessities are “too damn high.” I say almost everything because I can just about guarantee that if you are middle-class or poor, there is one thing that isn't “too damn high” and that would be your paycheck! Due to the corporate job offshoring free for all of high paying manufacturing jobs depressing the U.S. job market, turning it into a corporate buyer's market and turning American workers into virtual serfs, most workers haven't seen a pay increase in years! Paying low wages to their employees hasn't stopped the very same corporations from constantly raising the prices of their products at the drop of a hat and it hasn't stopped greedy commodities gamblers...er, I mean speculators from driving up the price of everything from gasoline to coffee to milk. All of that is happening right before our eyes, for all to see. That's why I was a little taken aback when I read a tweet from President Obama's Twitter account that endorsed raising the minimum wage (a great idea that is long overdue). So why am I shocked by President Obama tweeting out his support for raising the minimum wage? Here is the tweet, you decide “A lot has changed in five years—but the minimum wage has stayed the same. #TBT #LiveTheWage.” It included a graphic from an organization that I fully agree with called Live The Wage that is as follows “From 2009 To 2014, The Price Of A Dozen Eggs Increased 23% But the minimum wage hasn't changed.” Can you see the inconsistencies in what the President is saying? The true cost of living, as opposed to some cooked statistics, have gone up drastically on his watch! Over the past few years, the Federal Reserve has kept the interest rates that it charges banks at near zero percent. Much of that money has found its way into speculative investments a.k.a. gambling (we so need Glass-Steagall.) Part of that near zero percent gift to banksters and Wall St. is gambled on everything from gasoline to butter, turning the very food that we put on the table into betting opportunities for the greedy! Translation, government's bailout policy has helped the rich and destroyed the middle-class and the poor by causing the price of life's essentials to go through the roof. While raising the minimum wage in an important temporary band-aid to slightly reduce the suffering endured by the working poor, it doesn't fix the underlying causes of income inequality and it doesn't help those on a fixed income. Those were created by the electeds of both parties when they vigorously supported and still support job killing, wage lowering, “free” trade agreements and when they support bailout policies that line the pockets of the wealthy and rob us. If the President calls for an increase in the minimum wage without also addressing the underlying issues that to some extent, he helped cause, he is being disingenuous. Can you say Trans-Pacific Partnership?

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Have you noticed that there's no one on Talk Radio who speaks for John and Jane Q. Public? I want to change that situation. When I go into the studio and get on the air, I say the things that you've always wanted to say. The big corporate interests have their lobbyists, I want to be your voice. Just think of me as your guy fighting for your interests.